Saturday, January 9, 2010
Isaiah 60:2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
LET THY WORD HAVE SPEEDY COURSE
If we look at middle and eastern Asia, inner Africa, Australia, and the countless islands of the Pacific Ocean, we see that the largest and most beautiful surfaces of the earth are still enveloped in the night of heathendom. Even our beautiful fatherland still has thousands of heathen inhabitants. Christian eastern Europe, which has been highly blessed for more than a millennium, and western Asia and northern Africa, where the Gospel was once abundantly heard, are now filled with millions of worshipers of that false god that Muhammad preached. Of the approximately one billion people who inhabit the earth at this time, about two-thirds are still without the light of the Gospel.
Like us, they all have one God in heaven, who wants to be their Father, and one Savior. They too, are reconciled with God, and all their sins have been paid for. Paradise in heaven and on earth has again been opened to them. But they know none of this because no one proclaimed it to them.
Like us they have a feeling heart that longs for perfect happiness, rest, and the peace that this world and all its glory cannot bestow. But they know nothing of the One who calls the weary and heavy-laden to Himself, refreshes them, and gives them rest and peace for their souls.
Let us look upon the terrible darkness that still surrounds millions of our brothers. It is more horrible than if the earthly sun were not to shine upon them. Their silent distress and their temporal and eternal misery call loudly into our ears, "O Christians, do not place your light under a bushel, but set it on a high place so that it may burn brightly, shedding light into our poor, desolate, hopeless, and eternally lost heathen world!"
And let Thy Word have speedy course,
Thro' ev'ry land be glorified,
Till all the heathen know its force
And fill Thy churches far and wide.
Oh, spread the conquest of Thy Word
And let Thy kingdom come, dear Lord! Amen.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 494:4)
-Excerpt taken from "God Grant It : Daily Devotions from C. F. W. Walther"
Concordia Publishing House, 2006.
